This year the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting took place in Las Vegas. There were actually four meetings at once totaling about 40,000 eye people. Doctor attended AAO classes covering diabetes, macular degeneration, injectable medications, new technology, new treatment studies, coding and more. I attended AAOExecutive classes on management, finance, HR, meaningful use, and website marketing. Brandi submitted photographs for competition, taught 5 workshops, and attended classes at the Ophthalmic Photographers Society meeting. Gail, Dawn and Ashley attended classes at the meeting for assistants called JCAHPO to gain insight on how to be better assistants. Our meetings took up most of the Sands Expo, Planet Hollywood and Flamingo, not to mention all of the hotel rooms required to accommodate all of us.

We met our staff for a delightful outdoor dinner while enjoying the dramatic water features of the Bellagio. We also met in the exhibit hall (actually all four halls at the facility) to shop for the newest diagnostic equipment available followed by lunch. As a way to give back to Pacific Retina Care (sm), I require all staff members to share what they learned. They are to summarize each class for the rest of us. When we select classes, I usually try to pick classes that are best for our practice and each individual staff member. We try not to overlap. We usually do the presentations on Thursday mornings while Doctor is in surgery. I am very excited to hear what they got out of this amazing experience. How often does one get an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas?